Originally Posted by
WhizWheel
Problem is most if not all of the impact studies are brought forth by environmental groups. Gee, I wonder what the findings will be. We have ZERO opposition to the very powerful environmentalists in this country because the minute you do you are branded. Nobody wants to be known as the anti-environment lobbyist. Couple that with futures traders having the commodities market by the stones and you have 2 major reasons why the ppb is $127.
This is correct...the fundamental underlying weakness in the US energy economy is environmentalists and NIMBYs.
Energy is an infrastructure-intense business...you need large power plants, processing, and refining facilities plus transportation or power-lines to get the stuff where it needs to go.
There have been VERY few new refineries, nuclear, or conventional power plants built in the last 30 years. In fact NO nukes at all, and I believe no refineries either.
During the big California blackouts in 2000, the commie/liberal governor and his assembly cronies decided to fix the skyrocketing electricity costs by siezing control of the state's power utilities...unfortunately it turned out that these same folks had not allowed anyone to actually BUILD a power plant in the state of Cali for 30 years. So where WERE all the power plants which had supported the Cali population surge? About 15 feet across the Nevada State Line!
Turns out that the Cali state government does NOT have the authority to seize control of things in NV. Oooops!
The good news is that reason is starting to prevail in some quarters, and new plants are in the works. But the federal government probably needs to develop an aggressive post-petroleum energy master plan, and take steps as needed to steer the industry in the right direction.